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Montreal International Game Summit 2012 presentation. Post-mortem on the project management of Jurassic Park Builder from conception to launch on iOS.
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Agile Dino WranglingLessons learned on the game 65 million
years in the making
Montreal International Game Summit 2012Thiéry Adam
PRESENTATION STRUCTURE• Introduction• Iterations to reduce risk• Stakeholder Iterations• Production Iterations• Team Format Iterations• Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
Who am I?• Producer• Design, art & technical backgrounds• Specialized in stakeholder management
INTRODUCTION
Past Projects
INTRODUCTION
Who is Ludia?• Facebook, iOS and Android• Publisher & developer• Specializes in mass market brands
PROJECT CONTEXT
Business Opportunity• City-building games
were the rage on FB• Ludia identifies brands
to apply to genres
PROJECT CONTEXT
License• First project with Universal• First movie license
INTRODUCTION
What is Jurassic Park Builder?• Resource management and park building• Free-to-play with in-app purchases• Now on iOS, soon on Android & Facebook
INTRODUCTION
Jurassic Park Builder Pre-Launch• 11 months of production• 35 direct internal team members at peak• 4 outsourcing partners
INTRODUCTION
Jurassic Park Builder Results• Has reached #1 game in 8 territories so far.• Consistently rated 4.5 stars.• Monetizes well thanks to continual new content.
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
Scrum Agile Framework
2-Week Sprint
Deliverables
Reviews
Improve
Game & methodologiesInternal, editorial, licensor
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
Assess the situation• Discuss with all the stakeholders• Identify where there are differences in
expectations or uncertainty
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
To Each Issue An Owner• For every issue, a single person must be
clearly labelled as responsible.• Responsibility must be assigned to team
members to remain empowered.
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
Prioritize Issues1. Reduce Uncertainty to Create Value2. Reduce Risks To Gain Velocity3. Seek Autonomy To Improve Growth
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
1. Reduce Uncertainty to Create Value• Agile is about delivering more and more
value per sprint• Reducing uncertainty initially generates the
most value
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
1. Reduce Uncertainty to Create ValueExample: Predictable Communication• Coming from an extended period of low-
communication & irregular effort while other projects were winding down, Universal was understandably anxious.
• Establishing clear expectancies of how and how often we would communicate, and committing to them, already started to deliver value in the form of trust.
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
2. Resolve Risks To Gain Velocity• Risks are bottlenecks that hold
back the talented team from full potential.
• Many risks can be resolved by provoking them as early as possible.
• Often maintaining potential risk is more costly than embracing the negative outcome.
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
2. Resolve Risks To Gain VelocityExample: 2D vs. 3D dinosaurs• Large commitment in terms of
style and technology• The team was paralyzed during
the investigation.• Instead of figuring out
completely if each could work, we cut off the investigation when at least one could work.
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
3. Seek Autonomy To Improve Growth• Invest in self-reliance to increase output.• Team composition and methodologies
should be continually revised to improve.• Include individual development in planning.
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
3. Seek Autonomy To Improve GrowthExample: Determine potential growth vs. needs• One important case to test out was
determining if future needs were within the potential evolution of the current team.
• We injected new team members to cover certain skill sets that were beyond a safe evolution timeframe.
ITERATIONS TO REDUCE RISK
Examples of Risk-Reducing Iteration1. Stakeholder Iterations2. Production Iterations3. Team Format Iterations
STAKEHOLDER ITERATIONS
Diverging Project Vision• Team members, Ludia editorial
& Universal all have a different game in mind.
• Player goals, brand goals and business goals are not necessarily initially aligned.
STAKEHOLDER ITERATIONS
The Project Core Lens• Identify a non-mechanical vision to
assemble common objectives.• From that solid foundation, build in layers.
Jurassic Park Builder
Ludia Editorial
Project Team
Licensor
BelievabilityLegibility
STAKEHOLDER ITERATIONS
The Project Core Lens Applied• Dinosaur’s perceived movement
limitations could have been a conflict between budget and brand image.
• By using the lens as an discussion tool, we were able to find a signature that made all stakeholders happy.
PRODUCTION ITERATIONS
The Good-Enough Cut-Off• Potential is endless, but resources aren’t.• Constantly consider if investing them
elsewhere would generate more value.
PRODUCTION ITERATIONS
Teach Good-Enough• Practice the thought process with the
team until they assimilate value/effort.• Example: going from over-engineering a
single feature to seeking ways to leverage.
TEAM FORMAT ITERATIONS
Initial Team Format• First team setup was by functionality…… but dependencies kept slipping through.
Jurassic Park Builder iOS Team
Game Programming
Online Programming
UIArt
3DArt
3DAnimation
Game Design
QualityAssurance
TEAM FORMAT ITERATIONS
Mega-Scrum• Merged into a group to share planning…… but the practices were unwieldy.
Jurassic Park Builder iOS Team
Scrum Team
Game DesignGame Programming
2D Art3D Art
Online Programming
3DAnimation
QualityAssurance
TEAM FORMAT ITERATIONS
Interactive vs. Content• Moving out of the scrum every iteration to
accelerate, based on features.
Jurassic Park Builder iOS Team
Scrum Interactive Team
New Features
Kanban Content Teams
DinosaursDecorations
Buildings
Outsourcing
TEAM FORMAT ITERATIONS
Example Kanban Board
Dinosaurs Kanban
Concept Model Skin Texture Animation
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CONCLUSION
Recap: Risk Iteration• Your job is to help your
team by removing as many important impediments as possible every sprint.
• Invest in your team, and in the long run it they will be the biggest source of growth.
CONCLUSION
Thank You!
